Coming out at Christmas time
by BronyAugustus
Summary: It's the holiday season, and Luna Loud has decided that it's time to tell her parents about her relationship with Sam. She even has a carefully thought out and well considered plan. Nothing can possibly go wrong. Right?
1. Chapter 1

Luna broke the kiss first. Her senses still tingling, she looked her lover in the eyes. The two locked gazes as they had earlier locked lips, taking comfort in simply being in each other's presence.

They had been together since September, when Luna gave her the letter. Things went slowly at first, but since their first kiss early in November, things had picked up between them. They were now inseparable, albeit still rather quiet about it to their schoolmates. The Loud house was a similar case. Lori knew, but as for the rest of her family, they were clueless. Sam's family, meanwhile, was a somewhat… different story.

Luna's phone dinged. Sam broke their gaze.

"That's probably one of your sisters. We should be getting home"

Luna looked at her phone. It was already 5:00.

"Shit! Yeah, I should go. Hey, do ya mind giving me a ride home, luv?"

Sam smiled, and pulled a bad British accent. "Not in the least, luv!"

Luna laughed. "You're getting better, but you still have a long way to go."

They smiled, and loaded into her beaten up pickup truck.

Luna never expected to fall for a girl older than her, but that's what happened. Sam was sixteen, and already had a license. It was partially out of necessity, as Sam's dad was a complete jerk and she wouldn't be able to go anywhere otherwise, but it was also nice to be able to go somewhere without having someone else knowing.

Finally, all too soon for Luna, they reached her house, with it's usual chaotic appearance that you can only authentically get by shoving 11 kids into one house. Seeing that no one was outside to catch it, Luna stole one last kiss from Sam.

"You're a great kisser, Luna."

"Thanks, Sam."

They sat in silence for a couple of minutes.

"Well, you might want to go, before your family starts to wonder why a pickup is sitting in front of their house."

"Yeah."

Luna got out of the truck, her breath steaming in the cold December air.

"Hey Luna,"

Luna looked back.

"I love you!"

Luna blushed. "I love you too, Sam."

"See ya tomorrow Luna."

"See ya!"

They smiled, as Sam drove away. Luna sighed and went inside.

The inside of the house was it's usual chaos for a day off of school. Lana was chasing Lola around the living room with a frog, Lincoln and Clyde were on the couch together watching their favorite show, and Lori was walking in from the kitchen, texting someone (probably Bobby). Upstairs, she could hear the sound of a ball bouncing against a wall, and a small explosion. Just another winter's day in the Loud house.

Lori looked up from her phone. "Luna, where have you been? I've literally been texting you for almost half an hour!"

Clyde, turning to see Lori suddenly got a nosebleed and passed out. Yep, just an average day. Luna smiled and looked over at Lori.

"I was practicing with Samantha."

Lincoln looked up. "You mean that girl who's playing bass in your band now?"

"Yeah. She's getting better."

Lori sighed.

"At least you're not the only one late. Luan's last booking should have ended at 5:00, but its already 5:25. Dinner's literally in five minutes."

"Lori, I know you're the oldest, but you're not responsible for all of us. Anyway, I'm sure she's just running late."

The door opened.

Luna smiled again. " _Who can it be now?"_

"Sorry I'm late. The kids kept asking for more balloon animals."

Lincoln spoke up. "If I had known you would have it this bad, I wouldn't have taken the day off."

"It's okay, Lincoln. I didn't think it would have been this hard either. The six year olds drank _way_ too much soda."

"Yikes, sounds rough!"

"I don't know, it was _soda_ fun! Get it!"

Lori sighed. As the others in the living room laughed, Mr. Loud called from the kitchen. "Dinner's ready!"

The rest of the family came downstairs in a disorderly fashion. They sat down together at the table...

"And that's when larry realized, he had taken the customer _regular,_ not decaf! You guys should have seen him scrambling to get a new cup for the customer. And when the guy tasted it, his reaction was so hilarious!"

Everybody laughed.

"So, Luna, how was your day?"

"I helped my new bassist. She's coming along well."

"You two spend a lot of time together. Some might think you two were dating!"

The next few moments of silence were agonizing for Luna, although she didn't show it. Then everyone laughed again, Luna rather nervously…

Luna stared at the ceiling, considering what her dad said at dinner. It was just after midnight, when everyone else was asleep. All but one…

"Hey, Luna. You still awake?" came a soft whisper from below.

"Yeah, Luan?"

"What happened at dinner?"

"What do you mean?"

"When dad cracked that joke about Samantha, your laugh was, well, more nervous than anything. What was that about."

Luna flipped over and stuck her head out. In the darkness, she could barely make out the outline of Luan's head, and she couldn't tell her expression.

"Well, remember a few months ago, when we had that whole incident with the love letters?"

"Yeah. Wait, Samantha is Sam, isn't she?"

"Well… Yeah, she is."

Silence.

"Luan?"

"I guess I should have known."

"Come again?"

"Well, you have been seeing her a lot recently, and, in retrospect, it's quite a coincidence that, a month or so after all that with the love letters and someone named Sam, your band picks up a new bassist named Samantha."

"Do you think anyone else knows?"

"Well, Lori's on top of everything, so she probably already knows, but I don't think anyone else knows."

"Lori found out a month ago. She promised not to tell. Speaking of which…"

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. But if I were you, I would be thinking about how you're going to tell mom and dad. You need a plan."

"What do you have in mind?"

"Well, Christmas eve would be a great day for it…"


	2. Chapter 2

There was a knocking at the door. Lincoln got up from the couch to answer it, but Luna, bolting in from the kitchen, got there first. There, standing on the porch, was Sam.

"Hey Luna! I came as soon as I got your text."

"Thanks. Come upstairs, I'd like to introduce you to my siblings."

Lincoln walked up.

"Hello."

"Hi. I'm Samantha. I play bass guitar in Luna's band."

"Hi, I'm Luna's brother, Lincoln. It's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too."

They walked up the stairs. A few steps up they met Luan.

"Hello." She stretched out her hand.

Before Luna could warn her, Sam grasped Luan's hand. There was the sound of a joybuzzer, and Sam quickly let go.

"So you're the girl all this _buzz_ is about! Nice to meet you."

Luna groaned. Sam, however, smiled. "I take it you're Luan. Nice to meet you too."

Halfway up the stairs, they encountered the next sibling.

"Hello." came out of nowhere

Once she recovered from almost having a heart attack, Luna introduced Sam to Lucy.

As they reached the top of the stairs, smoke filled the hall and the smoke alarms went off. They turned their heads to see Lisa's door open. The toddler protege backed out of her room, using a fire extinguisher. She looked over at the couple, and waved at Sam.

"Salutations. Excuse the cloud of partially combusted particles and gas, street name smoke, just a little lab accident."

Luna waved a hand in Lisa's direction.

"That's Lisa."

A series of shouts suddenly rose over the sound of the smoke detectors. "It's mine!" "But I _need_ it!"

The twins burst out of their room, tugging on one of Lola's princess wands.

"Why do _you_ need my best princess wand?"

"It's my favorite back scratcher!"

"Eww! Have some class!"

Lana snatched the wand and ran.

"Get back here!"

Luna and Sam flattened against the wall as Lana reached the stairs. She nearly made it away, but Lola was too fast. Lana was tackled, and they rolled downstairs, still fighting.

"And that was the twins."

They took a step forward, only to step back against the wall as a brown haired blurr zipped past.

"And that was Lynn. At least I think it was."

Next they ran into Leni, who tripped in front of them. "Note to self: don't try to walk and chew gum."

"Samantha, this is Leni."

Finally, they reached Lori's room, and met her as she exited.

"Oh hi Samantha! What are you doing here?"

"We decided that it's time for me to meet the family."

"Oh, okay. Want me to get everyone together, Luna?"

Luna nodded.

Lori walked to the foot of the stairs. "SIBLING MEETING!"

"...and it was resolved that all of us pitch in for Luna's Christmas gift." finished Lisa.

"You're going to love it. It's a…"

Luan's hand shot out and covered Leni's mouth.

Lori, deciding to change the subject, walked to the front of the room.

"Thanks, Lisa. Now, to business. Luna, I believe you have someone to introduce."

"Yeah."

Luna and Sam walked to the front of the room. Every possibility ran through her head. They might be shocked. They might hate her, or worse hate Sam. But all her worrying couldn't prepare her for what was about to happen.

She cleared her throat.

"Umm, guys. I would like you to meet… Sam."

"Ahhh."

"Thought so."

"Alright Lynn, pay up."

Luna was stunned. "So you guys aren't even a little surprised that she's a, well, she?"

Lisa smiled. "Frankly, It's more surprising that you didn't realize we had already deduced that Sam and Samantha were the same."

Luna smiled. "Thanks you guys."

"For what?"

"For being accepting. No matter what."

They all hugged.

Lori looked over at Sam.

"Get over here! You're family too."

Sam, tears in her eyes, joined them. Lori made a personal note of those tears. "I'll find a time to ask her, but I'll have to be gentle about it. She seems to have something painful behind her."

After a few seconds, Lisa broke off.

"I hate to break up this touching moment, but have either of you considered how you're going to mention this to our parents. They weren't as involved in the love letter fiasco, and I therefore doubt that they've yet realized that Sam and Samantha are the same person. However, it would be prudent to take the initiative, so as to secure the ideal conditions."

Everyone was silent. Lisa sighed.

"We should tell Mom and Dad soon, since that will go better than letting them find out."

"Oh. Yes, we have a plan. And you all have a part to play."

"First, we make sure that a few specific people show up at Christmas dinner. Since Clyde's dads are at the top of this list, it's your job, Lincoln."

Lincoln pulled out his walkie-talkie. "Sure thing, sis."

"Okay."

"Second. Sam's staying over Christmas eve night. So…"

Luan spoke up "I guess I'm in a _Bed_ position."

"Actually, I was kinda hoping to avoid us rooming together. We don't want mom and dad to think we're, well," She blushed, "you know."

Half of her siblings said "oooh." and looked at Sam.

"Well, I was thinking about, maybe, Lori as a roommate."

Leni nodded.

"Okay. Finally, I want all you guys to be on your best behavior. Please, this is very important to me."

The room filled with a collective "Alright."

Lori returned to the front of the room. "Okay. Everyone knows their jobs, so let's do this. We've got one week until the big day people." She slammed her shoe down on the table. "Meeting dismissed!"


	3. Chapter 3

Luna paced the living room nervously, mind racing with worst case scenarios. Their entire relationship depended on everything in the next two days going well.

The doorbell rang, and her heart leapt in her throat. She ran to the door, eager to make sure she got there first. Of course, with her siblings upstairs making the usual after dinner racket, they probably wouldn't have noticed if someone was trying to knock the door down with a battering ram.

She opened the door and, after checking to be sure that they were alone, gave Sam a quick kiss.

"You look good today."

"And you look like a nervous wreck. Don't worry love, this will workout."

"It better. I don't know what I'd do without you!"

Sam hugged Luna. "No matter what happens, I'll stay with you."

Luna sighed and broke the hug. "I know, it's just that I love my family, and I want them to love you, too." She pointed up stairs. "You'll be staying in Lori and Leni's room. I'll go let mom and dad know that you're here while you unpack."

She went into the kitchen. There, Lynn Sr. was starting his cooking for Christmas eve dinner, and Rita was telling him about her day. She looked up to see Luna walk in.

"Hey, honey. Who was at the door?"

"Samantha."

"Oh, okay." She took on a worried look. "Are you sure it's okay with her parents?"

"Yeah. I'm sure her dad won't mind."

"And her Mom?"

"Died a few years ago."

"Oh."

"I'll go make sure she's settling in alright."

After she left, her parents looked at each other, and nodded knowingly.

Meanwhile, Luna raced upstairs to Lori's room. She entered to see Sam talking to Leni.

"It's okay, really."

"No no no, it's no trouble. I saw one that would be perfect for you at Reininger's, and I can use my employee discount. Just consider it a Christmas gift."

"Gee, thanks, Leni!" She hugged her. "That's so nice of you!"

After Leni left the room, Luna spoke.

"What was that about?"

"Well, she asked me what I was going to wear for dinner tomorrow night, and when I told her some clothes I had brought with me, she insisted on getting me a dress she saw at the store."

"Wow."

"I know! So, what brings you up here?"

"I just wanted to check in on you."

"Luna, I'm not a toddler. I can handle myself for a few minutes."

"I know, I know. Do you want me to get you something to eat?"

"Nah. I got some fast food earlier. Thanks for the offer, though."

"Alright, luv."

Later that night...

Lori woke in the night to quiet crying. She turned over, and in the moonlight, she saw Sam lying on top of Leni's bed.

"What's the matter?"

"I had a nightmare. Your parents were mad at me and Luna for seeing each other, and we couldn't see each other and, and,..."

She broke into tears. Lori got up and hugged her.

"Listen. It'll all work out, trust me. You and Luna love each other. That's what matters."

"I know, it's just that Luna means so much to me. After Mom died, Dad started drinking. And, while he's a great guy while sober, he's a violent drunk. He can hardly hold down a job, and it's gotten to the point where I do my best to stay away from him. And my brother, Simon, well, I hardly see him anymore. To tell you the truth, Luna's the only person I can turn to most of the time. I don't want to lose her!"

"I know how you feel. I don't know what I'd do without my Bobby boo boo bear! Back when his family moved away, I was terrified that I would lose him. But we worked it out, and through love and perseverance, we're still together. You and Luna love each other. The rest will work itself out. Trust me."

She smiled weakly. "Thanks. That makes me feel a little better."

"Good. I'm with you and Luna, no matter what."

She nodded, and hugged Lori.

"Thank you so much! You don't know how much this means to me! It's like I have a family again!"

Lori smiled.

"You're literally like, a part of the family, at least as far as I'm concerned. Alright. Now try and get some sleep. We've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

"I'll try."

As she laid back down on her bed, Lori thought to herself: "This poor girl, she's been through so much already, I hope that everything goes well tomorrow."

She sighed, and her eyelids closed, her mind drifting off into the wondrous realm of dreams...

Meanwhile…

Luna looked up at the ceiling, and back down at the clock for the millionth time. It was only 12:45.

"Damn it! Why can't I sleep!"

She climbed down from her bunk, careful not to disturb Luan, and headed downstairs, coming to a decision as she did.

Luna grabbed her coat and headed for the door. She sighed and talked to herself.

"I just need to clear my head. A nice stroll. Maybe to Wildfell Hall, that bar where Sam and I first kissed. That was one crazy night, Sam's first time on stage. Of course, I've never been there this late, but it would probably be empty this time of night."

She walked down the street, watching her breath puff in the freezing air. She thought hard about what she would do if things went wrong, but she could think of nothing sound, just wild plans about running away together.

She looked up at the moon.

"God, are you up there? I know I don't pray often, and I don't go to church, but I need you now. I need your help. I know some people believe you hate gays and bisexuals, but I don't think that's the case. Anyway, please, help me and Sam. She needs a family, and I need her. We need each other. Please!..."


	4. Chapter 4

Luna walked into Wildfell hall, taking a look around. At one end of the bar was a figure, hunched over, face down on the bar top. He was wearing a heavy coat, and the only real feature she could discern was a mop of messy blonde hair. The only other figure was one she did recognize: her roadie, Chunk. He waved at her.

She took a seat between him and the stranger.

"Luna, what are you doing here at this time of night?"

"Well, you know about me and Sam."

"Yeah. You two aren't having trouble, are you?"

"Nah, not with each other anyway."

"Then, what's the matter. Something's wrong, I can see it on your face."

"Well, we're going to tell my parents about me being bi on Christmas day, but I can't stop thinking about worst case scenarios. I couldn't sleep, so I snuck out here. I thought coming here, a place with some good memories might help me relax."

"Well, you feel any better?"

"No, not really. I just want something to comfort me, ya know?"

"Yeah, I know how you feel. But there's not much I can tell you. This is a big point in your life, and you should be nervous."

She looked sad.

"However, your parents seem like perfectly tolerant people. They're friend's with the McBrides, right?"

"Yeah."

"That's a good sign. Besides, even if your parents don't approve, you wouldn't be the first teen to rebel against your parents. And you probably won't be the last."

She smiled. "Alright. Say, why are you here this late?"

"I'm headed back to England to visit some relatives for Christmas. I came here to wish my friends a merry Christmas, but I felt like I needed to stay for some reason. I guess I just found out."

"Well, guess I better head home."

"How about I give you a ride in my van. No sense in you walking all that way in the cold."

"Thanks."

As they got up to leave, they didn't notice the ragged man get up and follow them. As they reached the door, he spoke.

"You Luna Loud?"

"She turned around."

"Yeah."

He reached into his coat pocket.

This is for turning my daughter into a lesbian!"

The next few minutes were a confused jumble for Luna. First, there was a loud noise, and Luna felt something like being punched in the stomach, only with a lot more force, so much that she fell back. She looked up to see Chunk and the stranger fighting over something in the stranger's right hand. Chunk's voice, saying: "Give me the gun, Tim!" drifted to her, as if from somewhere far away. She looked down, lifting her left hand off her stomach, where it had been since she had been knocked on the floor. It was covered in red liquid. Some part of her mind registered that this was blood. Another sound floated her way, another blast. Her vision went blurry. She could feel herself starting to blackout. She laid down. A voice came in. It sounded like Chunk.

"Come on, stay with me Luna! You've got so much left to live for!"

Those words reverberated throughout her mind as she slipped into darkness...

Meanwhile...

Sam sighed, and rolled out of bed. She decided to head downstairs for some water, and maybe a snack. That might settle her down.

She found her way to the kitchen, but as soon as she found the fridge, she froze, having heard something. It sounded like footsteps.

The lights flicked on, and standing in the doorway was Mr. Loud.

"I'm sorry! I was just…"

He waved her explanation away.

"I know how you feel. Nothing settles the ol' bean like a little midnight snack. I actually cook a little more than I think I need just so I can have a little something to snack on."

He walked over to the fridge and grabbed a couple of sandwiches. He handed one to Sam. "Sorry I don't have any more to offer, but everything else is set aside for Christmas dinner." He got out the milk and poured a glass of milk for each of them. "Here you go. This always helps me sleep."

"Thank you."

They both sat down at the table, and began eating. Conversation turned to Sam's father.

"Strange that your father would let you stay here for Christmas eve and Christmas."

"It's okay."

"If there's something you want to talk about, you can."

"Well, Dad is a drunk, and my brother stays out of the house as much as he can. That's how it's been since mom died. Before that, we were a happy family. I just wish things could go back to normal."

"I'm sorry to hear about that. If you want to get away from that for a while, our door is always open."

"Thanks."

His friendly demeanor relaxed her, and she then came to a decision.

"Listen, there's something I need to tell you. Luna and I, we agreed to wait until the day after tomorrow, but, well… Me and Luna are more than just friends."

He looked at her for a moment and smiled. "Well, I guess Rita owes me 50 bucks!"

Sam's jaw dropped.

"The way Luna would talk about you, the way she acts around you, was pretty much a dead giveaway. I speak for both my wife and myself when I say that we have no problem with you two. You seem like a nice, respectable girl. We trust you."

"Thank you!" She sighed with relief. "You don't know how much this means to me!" She hugged him and started to cry. "It's like I've got a family again!"

They hugged for some time. At last, they seperated, and finished their meal. Sam stood and yawned.

"Thanks for everything. I think I can finally get some sleep."

"Good, good."

The phone rang.

"I wonder who that could be?"

He got up and grabbed the phone. Sam walked up the stairs, but he stopped her.

"It's the hospital. Luna was shot…


End file.
